Fire and Ice
by Dance Of Flame
Summary: It started with a simple Anbu mission. Find out about the missing Anbu. But someone has different plans for Sakura. And once He's back in her life, she can't seem to get rid of him until she helps him accomplish his goal. Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1** _(Sakura's Point of View)_

It was one of those rare, cloudy days in Konoha when I woke up and, for once, it matched my mood. To make things worse, I had nothing to do to get my mind off today. Today. Today was one of the worst days of the whole year. Even worse than one of my first training sessions with Lady Tsunade, and those were terrible. The day Sasuke left me. I sighed, and ran my fingers through my long pink hair. Getting up, I stripped and took a shower. I got dressed in my usual cream-colored skirt with short, black leggings and red no-sleeves top. Walking into the next room and woke up Teria and Kail. The twins got dressed sleepily and followed me to Naruto and Hinata's house.

Naruto and Hinata had married only a few years ago. Except for me, everyone in our year was either engaged or married. Hinata usually watched the kids when they didn't have class at the ninja academy and I had a mission. I know what you're thinking. No, Teria and Kail are not my children. They are members of my clan. We are the last members of the Haruno clan. I dropped the twins off, and then went to the Hokage Tower to see if I could be of any help there. A little ways from their house, I ran into Naruto.

"Hey Sakura-Chan!" He said in his usual cheery voice, although you could tell that today it was forced. He was also trying to keep his mind off the pain. Naruto had been the third member of Team 7, along with Sasuke and me. We had been genin together until Sasuke went to Orochimaru for power. Sometimes, I forget that Naruto is also hurting the way I am. It was easy to see he was suffering.

Poor Naruto, I thought. He'd suffered enough. Shunned by the villagers, he had grown up all alone. Naruto was a Jinchuriki, a human who had a tailed beast sealed inside of them in order to control it.

It was easy to see that, even though Sasuke had left eight years ago, Naruto still regretted that he couldn't bring him back. The pained look in his eyes made me angry with the Uchiha. He had hurt everyone we knew without a second thought about it. Containing my anger, I forced a smile and greeted my friend as whole-heartedly as possible. "Want to go get some ramen with me?" Naruto asked.

"No. I have things to do with Lady Tsunade. And who eats ramen for breakfast anyways?" I attempted a joke, trying to lighten the mood, but failed miserably. So, trying to escape, I started walking past him only to turn back to him and truthfully say, "Thank you." As I walked up the path toward the heart of Konoha, I sat down on the stone bench that I knew only too well. It was as like it was every year. As I sat there, it was as though I was watching a movie.

I could see and hear everything so perfectly. My desperate voice and his cool, calm, controlled one. Those frustrating tears that would always give me away. I cried no more after that night. I swore to myself that I would never shed a tear again. My inner demon was taunting me, telling me that Sasuke left because of me and that I was no better than that night and I told it to shut up. To my surprise, it did.

After a few minutes of brooding, I forced myself to get up and go to the Hokage Tower. When I arrived, I found that there was nothing for me to do so

I went to the Forest of Death to train, but I knew that there was nothing that could take my mind off him. Sasuke's older brother had killed his entire clan, and Sasuke was so obsessed with revenge that he didn't care if Orochimaru just wanted to use his body for his transfer ninjutsu. He just wanted the power Orochimaru had said he would give Sasuke.

After a few hours of being met by packs of giant lions while trying, and failing, to get Sasuke out of my head, I was met by an anbu. "Miss Sakura!" He said. "Lady Tsunade needs to speak with you immediately!"

"Why didn't she talk to me while I was there?" I asked, a little annoyed that my training had been interrupted. I could feel my inner demon squirm, trying to find a way to use my emotions to take control. It knew that I was on a thin line of patience today.

"She just received word only a few minutes ago. She needs you to go on a mission tonight." Said the anbu, bowing his head.

"Fine." I sighed and gathered my tools. I guess you're wondering what this inner demon is. I suppose I should explain. It is a trait unique to only the Haruno clan. Members of the clan are blessed with expert chakra control, but we also have a curse. We have a demon that lives inside of us. They prey upon hate, rage, fear, and sadness. If we let our feelings consume us then the demons can control our bodies in anyway they chose. If you're lucky, the demon never comes out. I used to think of my 'inner Sakura' as my alter ego, which she is kind of. My demon has taken over twice so far. The first time I lost it was during one of my training sessions with Lady Tsunade. Fortunately, she knew about the curse and what to do.

I walked along the halls of the Hokage Tower, knocked at my master's door, and entered the office. I squinted in the setting sun so a brown-haired woman closed the blinds over the huge windows. A little pig was following at her feet. I smiled at Tonton. I always thought he was the strangest thing to use for a tracker. Tonton oinked and the woman picked him up.

"Thank you Shizune." Said a beautiful, blond haired woman sitting at a large desk that had a giant stack of papers on it.

"Master, you summoned me?" I asked, bowing to the sanin. She nodded very gravely. "Oh, no! Not another squad gone!" I exclaimed, my smile dropping immediately. She nodded sadly. "Geez! Those people sure are persistent. What do they gain by making Anbu Black Ops disappear? Do you think they are trying to start a war?" I asked starting to get worried. Lately, squads of elite ninja, the Anbu Black Ops, have been disappearing at the border to the Land of Clouds. One went on a mission and never came back and they sent no word so Lady Tsunade sent out another group and they didn't come back, and so on so forth. This is our sixth team gone.

"I don't know. I wish I did, although I got a little bit of information from the last team. One of the members must have written it just before they were killed. Here." Tsunade showed me the note. 'Four man squad, 3 male, 1 female. Shari-' It read. It didn't escape my notice that there were brown spots on the paper. The color of dried blood.

"What is Shari-?" I wondered out loud, shivering, as my anger and disgust at the sight of the blood had aroused my inner. I could almost feel her breathing down my neck, waiting for my control to slip.

"I don't know. All I can guess is that the Anbu was killed as he was writing this." Lady Tsunade looked as confused as I felt.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, falling into business mode. This was an important mystery and I wanted to solve it.

"Sakura Haruno, Captain of Anbu Squad 11, I hereby assign you and your squad to collect information on the teams that are dead and the people who killed them. Take three of your strongest members and prepare to leave at midnight. This mission is top secret. Once you find something, anything, out sent it to me via bird or messenger slug. If you find the murderers, capture them, but if you can't do that then at least find out who they are and what they hope to gain. Do you understand?" She was also in full business mode.

"HIA!" I said and she dismissed me. I decided to take two guys and one girl from my squad along. Everyone on my squad was about the same level, except for me, of course. I went to the members' houses and told them what Lady Tsunade told me. They accepted the mission and I told them where to meet me at midnight. Then I headed home.

On my way, I stopped at Yamanaka's Flowers to see Ino, my best friend. As I walked in, I could see Ino talking to Sai, her fiancé. I decided not to interrupt them so I walked over to the flowers. I got a pot of daisies that I would give to Naruto before my mission. I had a feeling that I couldn't explain. It was very weird. I went to the counter to pay for the flowers. Sai had left so there was no one else other than Ino and me. She could see I was troubled.

"What's wrong?" She asked as her eyes filled with pity and concern. That kind of annoyed me. I didn't want nor need anyone's pity, but I held back my feelings like I so often did nowadays.

"It's nothing. I just have a mission, that's all." I lied, trying to laugh it off. I bought my flowers and waved Ino goodbye as she stared after me with a concerned look. As I walked to my home I stopped at Hinata's, asking if she could watch the kids while I was gone, then went to see them. Kail and

Teria were having a shuriken throwing contest, and Kail was winning.

When they saw me coming, they stopped and ran over to me. I hugged them tightly. I stroked Kail's brown hair and Teria's strawberry blond hair. Teria was so sweet; it was hard to believe that she had a demon inside of her. I pulled back and saw Kail's green eyes studying my face. I smiled at the little boy. Kail and Teria had seen things that no nine year olds should have seen. "You have to go away on a mission." Kail said simply. He said it as a statement, not a question.

"Yes. But I'll be back as soon as I can." I said, stroking Teria's hair as her blue eyes started to tear. I pulled them back into a hug that lasted much longer than the last one. Pulling back, I kissed each of their foreheads and said goodbye. I could feel their stares boring into my back as I stood and walked inside.

As I left, I gave Hinata the flowers. When I finally walked into my apartment on the top floor and went straight to the window. I had a first class view of Konoha. Sighing, I took another shower and got out my anbu uniform. I put on the black pants and the white shirt, all the armor, then the black cloak. I went to the bathroom and put brown hair dye in my hair. Pink hair isn't very common, you know. When it was mostly brown with a little pink on the ends, I put up in a bun using a set of chopsticks and slipped on my anbu mask.

After packing food, water, and other necessary things I looked around my apartment and silently shut the door. I walked to the training field outside the village, hesitating at the village gate. Like always, I quietly said goodbye to all my friends. My team was waiting for me at the meet up point. "Let's go." I said. I could hear the three get into their assigned positions behind me.

"Leaving at midnight means that we should arrive at the last known location of the group somewhere between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM. We will go all the way through the day, so I hope you're not very tired." I shouted back at them.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about the last one. No author's note. There's a couple things I'd like to say. First, if you have any questions at all feel free to ask. Second, please, please, please, REVIEW! I want to know how I can make it better. And finally I just wanted to say that this is dedicated to Uchiha Ringo (Youtube username.) Thanks for being such a good friend Ringo. I'll miss you.

Ok. NOW READ IT AND REVIEW PLEASE!

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**Chapter 2**

All day we ran and we were about to stop, since we had reached the border of the Land of Clouds, our destination, when I saw out of the corner of my eye a blur of movement. The next thing I knew, one of my men had been killed and the figure was heading towards the others. The thought of the oncoming battle had sharpened my senses and I could track the blur's movement. I shouted out to my remaining team to be careful but they realized it too late and fell to the ground, each with a deep slash in their chest.

I then saw the blur move towards me so I focused my chakra to my feet so I could move faster. The blur seemed to slow down a little bit and I guessed that, due to the build of the figure's body, my attacker was male. It was hard to tell for sure. The low light and the completely cloudy sky had made it very dark. The Land of Clouds truly deserves its name and it looked like it was going to storm really hard. When I focused my chakra, he seemed to hesitate for a moment, but that was all I needed. I didn't get away unharmed though. The man's sword had made a shallow wound in my left arm and a shallow slice through my stomach. Somehow, his sword had gone through the armor without damaging it. I was on one knee on the ground, and I looked around. He seemed to have retreated for the moment so I took advantage of that to go and check on my comrades.

The first one was dead already. His blood had leaked everywhere and had died of blood loss. I shook my head sadly and moved on to the next one. He was also dead with both of his lungs punctured. I heard strained breathing and went over to the source. The last member of my team was barely alive. She was a woman about 25 years old. She was bleeding profusely from the deep gash in her chest and her breathing was ragged. I guessed she might have a punctured lung as well.

"Lady Sakura!" She gasped quietly when I appeared above her. "I should have been more careful. Are you all right? Were you harmed? I am truly sorry!"

"Shhhh!" I said gently, trying to calm her down. "It's ok. I am fine. I'm more concerned about you! You're in really bad condition. Please, don't worry about me."

Her face twisted in pain. Then she panted, "Thank you Lady Sakura. I am glad you are okay. I can die peacefully knowing that." And with that, she gave one more stuttering gasp and then she was still. I laid the hand I was holding on the ground and brushed a little bit of hair out of my friend's face, then I stood up and looked at the sky. I'd never realized how much my squad cared about me.

Just then, it began to rain. I let it stream under my mask, down my face for a moment then quietly said, "The sky weeps for you my comrades. It sheds the tears that I cannot. Rest in peace, my friends." I hadn't forgotten the unknown enemy that lurked in the shadows so I managed to find a dry spot in a tree that had a hollow area. I sat down and began to heal myself using medical ninjutsu. The wounds were minor so I could heal myself in only about a minute. Then I took out a scroll that I had stored all of my spare chakra in whenever I got the chance. I set the seal so that it would leak a steady stream of chakra into me as I fought. I also took out a kunai and used it to make a small slice my thumb. I used the smallest amount of chakra necessary to make a summoning.

A small slug appeared. She was a special kind of slug that could read minds. She was the perfect messenger slug for this kind of job. "You summoned me, Lady Sakura?" She asked in a soft voice.

"Yes Kaiushi." I said very quietly, not wanting the enemy to hear. "I need you to read my mind during the battle then once it's over, go and report to Lady Tsunade. Do you understand"? She nodded. "Stay here." I told her. Just before I got down, I called a bird and tied a blank piece of paper to its leg and created a cage of chakra that I could open anytime I wanted from anywhere.

I stood up and jumped to the ground, since fighting in the trees would be too hard in this weather. I then heard a low chuckle. I started to get annoyed. "What's so funny?" I snapped, turning to where I heard the chuckle. My inner self was starting to stir. That was not good.

"You actually think you can win?" Replied a voice. He sounded incredulous. It sounded like a voice I knew. It was cold and hard, showing little emotion. Who was he?

"Why shouldn't I be able to?" I said, responding to his question with one of my own. "I escaped harm from your first attack, so why can't I dodge all the others?"

"Ever consider luck, or maybe it was an accident. How do you know that I didn't just let you get away?" The voice asked. It was starting to sound annoyed as well.

"I don't believe in luck or accidents." I spit out, trying to contain myself.

"Hn." Said the voice. It was quiet for a short while, then, "What is your name and rank?"

That question threw me a little off guard. "Why do you want to know?" I inquired, truly curious.

"I have my reasons." It appeared I wasn't going to get a direct answer to my question.

"Very well. If you tell me your name first, then maybe I'll tell you."

"Hn." He said, though I thought I could hear a smirk in his voice. "Very well. My name is Sasuke Uchiha. Now tell me your name and rank." This time it wasn't a request, but a demand.

Sasuke. Hearing his name seemed to knock the wind out of me, but my surprise was quickly replaced by rage and hate. I could feel my inner demon using my rage to take control of me. Wrestling with her and paying attention to Sasuke was difficult.

In answer to his question I spit out through clenched teeth, "I am the Fifth Hokage's apprentice, Jonin, and Captain of Anbu Squad 11. As for my name, that is confidential and none of your business. Maybe you can figure out who I am when we fight." When he heard that, he jumped down off his branch and landed on the ground.

Uchiha Sasuke. He had changed. He was good amount taller than me, which meant that I was now the smallest one in the group. Short, little Naruto had grown during his training and was now a few inches taller than me. Sasuke's eyes seemed to have turned colder than before, something I didn't even think was possible! And what was even more disturbing was that he seemed to enjoy having other people's blood on his hands. Not that that fact surprised me. He had turned into a monster. No longer was he the Sasuke I knew.

As I thought about that, he ran towards me with blinding speed, sword drawn. I barely managed to avoid his attack but his hand shot out, grabbing for my mask but catching only my chopsticks, causing my long hair to fall in my face. He disappeared then reappeared behind me. I felt something cool and wet press against my throat and a strong hand grab and hold my arms. My skin prickled in disgust.

"Now I'll ask you one more time. What is your name?" His mouth was right next to my ear and his warm breath tickled. I said nothing and he pressed the blade of the sword harder against my throat and I could feel warm blood trickle down my clammy skin. This is not how I want to die! I thought. I cannot die by his hand. I won't give him what he wants. I will have my revenge! And with that I spun around and kicked Sasuke off of me. Doing so had caused some more cuts on my neck and I quickly healed them.

He jumped back into the trees and let loose a trap. Thousands of kunai and shuriken hurtled toward me. I dodged most of them but about ten got stuck in my legs, five in my arms, and about fifteen got stuck in my back. Luckily, none of them had hit any vital points. I tried to pick out the weapons and heal my wounds but Sasuke appeared in front of me. He grabbed my neck and pinned me against the trunk of a tree, causing the weapons in my back to go in deeper.

I cried out in pain.

"You wouldn't happen to be Sakura Haruno, would you?" He asked teasingly. I stiffened and he chuckled again. Then, he reached up and pulled off my mask. I couldn't have been a pretty sight. My hair was knotted; body dirty and bloody, and I had blood dripping out of my mouth. I growled at him. That, or my infuriated expression, must have amused him because he smirked his signature smirk and threw me on the ground. At least that part of him hadn't changed. My body forced itself to get up and fight some more, though I would have been happy to lay on the ground forever. I reminded myself that I wanted this more than anything.

"You can never be forgiven for what you did to all of us, Sasuke! I won't forgive you for what you did to me! I will kill you! But unfortunately, my mission requires me to get information first. Why are you doing this? What are you trying to do?" I asked. I was becoming impatient.

"Now, now. What's that look? Although, it is a good one. One of those kind of 'if looks could kill' expressions. And as for what I'm trying to do, why should I tell you?" Sasuke walked towards me slowly, circling, a lion stalking its dinner.

"Why should it matter to you? All you are is still the sniffling little brat you were back then. As I told Naruto, you know nothing!" His hand shot out and grabbed my neck once more and he pressed me against a rock wall. I hadn't noticed that was there.

He got close to my face. "No," I spit. "You know absolutely nothing about me!" I just then noticed that his Sharingan had been activated the whole time. I should have guessed that that was what 'Shari-' was. That must have been how he figured out who I was. At my comment, an angry expression crossed his face and his hand at my throat started to slowly tighten. The only things that could be heard were my gasping breath, the thunder and the rain.

Sasuke's breath was now cool, like the cold chill that Death leaves behind after he has done his bidding. Suddenly, I felt something on my head. Sasuke's free hand was touching my hair and I did not like it one bit. It appeared as though his guard had relaxed slightly, but only a tiny bit. I took advantage of that moment to use the last of my strength to break free.

I could feel him coming up behind be so I released the bird and waited. Sasuke was fast, but I knew what he would do. He appeared behind me getting ready to knock me out, and then saw the bird. One of the last things I heard was his slight intake of breath, the squawk of the bird as he shot it down with a piece of white light, and my final act of the night, "No...." I whispered as the darkness swallowed me up, slightly smiling as I could feel Kaiushi disappear to report to Lady Tsunade.

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REVIEW PLEASE! And stay tuned. It gets better.


	3. Chapter 3

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**Hello once again! Sorry it's so late. I did a lot of work on it. Just so you know, all of the lines (except for the very end) are actually from the manga. You can check if you want. I hope you enjoy. R&R!**

Chapter 3

A dark room, which was so neat and organized loomed around me. I stood by the window in the silver moonlight. Wait a minute, I thought, this isn't my apartment. I was in Sasuke's old place. My perception of Sakura was quickly fading, and soon I was just Sasuke.

I stared at the picture encased in a wooden frame, sitting on my window. Team 7. Me, the fangirl, the perverted teacher, and the baka. I needed to forget them. They would only hold me back. But…I didn't want to forget them. My hand reached out and gently set the frame so the faces of my comrades were facing the ground. At least my body knew what it had to do. Then I left the apartment without a glance back.

I walked towards the massive gates of Konoha, but as I neared them I saw a lone girl standing there. Waiting. I stopped. Darn it! All she will do is complicate my plan. I guess it was stupid of me to think that I could leave here without someone trying to stop me. So I stood a few feet away from the girl and said, "It's the dead of night…what are you doing out here?" I knew the answer but I asked anyways.

"This road is the only way out of the village. So I've been keeping watch." She said, her expression sad. I hated when she got like that. It was so annoying. I wondered why I cared for her. She was the most annoying person I ever met.

"Just go to bed." I told her in the coldest voice I could. With that, I strode past her quivering form. I could hear the plat of her tears hitting the ground. She is such a crybaby, I thought.

"Why don't you ever tell me anything?" She asked. I stopped. "Why do you have to be so silent? Why can't you just…let me in?" She had turned to face me.

"Like I said, my business is none of yours. Just leave me alone." I didn't look at her. She didn't reply to that. There was a silence. I was about to start walking when she spoke.

"You always act like I'm bugging you…but remember…" She trailed off. I said nothing and she picked back up, voice stronger now. "Back when we became genin…the day the announced our three man cell…it was right here. You were here with me, alone, the first time… Remember how you blew up at me?" She was quiet, remembering. She was a fangirl, and fangirls always came back. What is didn't understand was _why_ they always came back. It was a mystery to me.

"No, I don't remember that…" I said. I knew I was being cruel, but I was anxious to leave before others could see and come to try and stop me from leaving.

"Heh…Of course. Well, it was a long time ago." I said nothing. "But that's when it started, Sasuke. You and me…Naruto and Master Kakashi…" She trailed off again. She was getting really annoying. "The four of us, on so many missions. It was rough, sometimes…and there's no way you could call it easy, but…when you get down to it… It was fun." She was silent, then, "Sasuke…I know the deal with your clan. But revenge, just for it's own sake…that won't make anyone happy. Not you, Sasuke…not me either…"

I interrupted her before she could say anymore. "I knew it. I'm not like you people…I'm on a different path from the rest of you. Yeah, we all worked together for a while. Sometimes I told myself our paths all led to the same place. Maybe we were a team, once. But now, I choose revenge. That's all I've lived for." She could never understand my need to kill my brother. He had killed my whole family! I could never forgive that. I had to avenge my clan. "I can never be like you or Naruto."

Her tears started to fall again. Then she exclaimed, "So that's it, you're choosing the lonely path? Remember how you showed me what it means to be lonely?! Well, now I understand. It's all painfully clear to me." Her voice was started to fail her. "I've…I have family, and friends…But Sasuke, if I lose you, I…I'll be…I will be very lonely."

The images of my friends flashed through my mind. Naruto's goofy grin and determined blue eyes and Sakura, with her beautiful pink hair and piercing emerald green eyes. "We're each starting off on a new path…they're just different, is all."

"I'm…I'm so in love with you that I can't even stand it! Sasuke! Stay with me, and I'll never let you regret it! We'll have fun every day and…and you'll be happy! I'll make sure of it! I'll do anything for you Sasuke! Just please… please, please don't go!" I remained silent as she continued, "I'll even help you take revenge! I mean, I'll manage it somehow, so…so please…stay with me. If you can't then…maybe I can go with you?"

Her sobs were getting louder and pleas were getting more desperate, so I decided to play my last card before having to get past her by force. Turning halfway back to the shaking girl, I said, "You… make me sick." Her face was a mixture of surprise and hurt. Good, I thought, pain makes a person stronger.

I had started to walk away when she shouted after me, "Don't you leave me! One more step and I'll scream…" She never got to finish her sentence because I had disappeared and reappeared behind her.

"Sakura…" I bit my lip before continuing, "Thank you." Sakura began to tremble just before I knocked her out, and her limp body fell into my awaiting arms. Laying her on the stone bench I brushed the hair away from her eyes.

I leaned down and whispered into Sakura's ear, "Become strong, Sakura, and you'll become useful. Who knows, maybe I'll have a use for you later on. We'll meet again when that time comes."

And then everything faded to black.

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**Cheesy, I know. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be out next week or so. This one was so late because I changed a lot from the initial draft. Stay tooned and don't forget to leave a nice little review. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again. I know it's later than I promised but I was busy and life is hectic. The school play is in one week and the people need serious help. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. This is different from how I planned it so... who knows what'll happen. This chapter actually ends my prewritten chapters so the story might be a bit slower. Enjoy!

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Chapter 5 (Sakura's POV)

My head was throbbing when I sat up on the soft bed I'd been laying on. I remembered everything painfully well, about when Sasuke had knocked me out. Damn Uchiha, I thought and let out a groan. Just then, I noticed a pair of blood red eyes staring at me from the corner of the room. Sasuke stood up and walked towards me. Every part of me said to run but my body wouldn't move. All I could do was sit there and look at my approaching nightmare.

I looked away and stared at his feet as he stopped at the foot of the bed. His hand reached toward me. This was just like a nightmare I had for the longest time after the Haruno clan had been killed. Waiting for the hand to wrap around my throat, I flinched when it gently lifted my face up to meet his gaze. The moment my eyes met his, I felt myself fall into his genjutsu.

I was on a hill with a single sakura tree perched on its crest like a pink crown. Standing underneath it was Sasuke, my Sasuke. He beckoned to me to come. I walked closer to him, and we sat on a branch of the tree. Being beside the Sasuke I knew and loved comforted me and, for a while, I forgot that it was a genjutsu. But that fantasy was soon ended when I found myself gazing into Sharingan eyes. "Have you calmed down now?" He asked, raising one eyebrow.

"What do you want? Why didn't you kill me?" He cocked his head at my harsh tone of voice.

"I need your help." That was his simple reply. He said it with a grudging look on his face, so I guessed that the request was genuine.

"What for?" I inquired. I wondered what was so important he would need me, of all people, for. It had to be important; otherwise he wouldn't have come for me. He would have avoided me for the rest of his life.

"That is a need-to-know basis, and right now you don't need to know."

"You won't get an answer until I know what you need me for." I told him firmly.

He leaned closer, pressing me against the bed. I pushed him off of me and got up. In a flash he was in the doorway, blocking my exit. I walked right up to him, trying to squeeze through, only to fail. "You know, if you help me, we'll get the mission done quicker, and then there more time for us."

"Us?" I asked, incredulous. After all he did to me, he still thinks there can still even possibly be an us? My anger gave me extra strength and I pushed past him. "There's no such thing." I stated flatly.

I started to walk down the hall, only to realize that I had no idea where I was going, but I didn't care. I was looking for a way out. After a while, I resigned to the fact that I couldn't find a way out. The walls all had the same swirling pattern and the doors were in the same uniformed order, and yet…it felt like I had been here before. My brow furrowed but I kept on walking.

I arrived at a hall that had two doors at the end of the corridor. The door on the left read "Men" and the one on the right had "Women" on it. Except the women's door had "Women" crossed out and "Karin" written in a messy scrawl. Gingerly, I opened the door on the right. The inside revealed to be a bathroom with a small, contained hot spring adjoining to it.

Nodding in approval, I glanced at the mirror and suddenly became aware of how I looked. Deep purple bruises covered a large amount of my body and I had bandages wrapped loosely around my arms and legs, spotted with brown blotches. Whoever bandaged me up obviously didn't have much, if any, medical training. Shaking my head, I unwrapped the bandages and set to work healing my wounds. I hadn't noticed what I had been wearing until I stripped to take care of my back.

Removing my shirt, I noted that it was one of Sasuke's old shirts, the ones he wore in the village. It smelled of dust and mildew, but I didn't care. Actually I was more worried about what I saw after removing the shirt. My entire midsection had been wrapped in bandages. I wondered who had done it. I hope it wasn't Sasuke, I thought as I healed my wounds, cleaned up, then grabbed a towel and entered the bath.

After soaking for a while, I had calmed down enough to try and think of a way to escape. I decided to walk around, or maybe see if I could get one of Sasuke's teammates to give me a tour. I guess those were my only options, other than to accept Sasuke's offer.

Climbing out of the bath, I made sure all of the brown was out of my hair and replaced the clothes I had worn in, and then set out to my room. After getting lost several times and hitting multiple dead ends I finally managed to stumble into the room I had awoken in. I pulled on a spare outfit I had brought in case we had to work undercover. I then set out in the other direction. I turned to a big door that looked a bit different from all the others.

The door opened with a soft creak, and I stepped into the roomy kitchen. A man rummaging through the refrigerator startled me. He straightened up, a water bottle in his mouth, and then spotted me. "Hey!" He said warmly, "You're finally awake. You've been out for three days. Thought you'd never wake up! Sasuke might of overdone it taking you." The man seemed pleasant enough. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Suigetsu, one of Sasuke's teammates."

"I'm Sakura." I offered my hand and Suigetsu shook it, smiling a goofy grin that reminded me of Naruto. "So…Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Well…Sasuke is probably in the training hall, Karin is probably there too, drooling over Sasuke, and Juugo is probably in his room doing who knows what. We're the only ones here."

"I'm kinda new around here and I keep getting lost. Can you show me around?" I asked.

"Oh! Yeah, sure." He said, scratching his head. We left the kitchen, heading in the direction I had come from. He took a corridor on the right, another right, a left, a right, and finally a last left to get to the hall before the area where my room is.

"The first one on the right is Karin's room, the left is the bathroom, and the next right is Juugo's room, and the last one on the left is my room." We continued through the place and he pointed out useful rooms such as the training hall, and the library while showing me rooms to avoid such as Orochimaru's labs.

We then went to the baths. Seeing the "Karin" door, I smiled. I think I figured out who did that. "Are you by any chance involved with what happened to that door?" I asked, playfully.

Suigetsu laughed, and I couldn't help but to join in. "Guilty as charged." He laughed, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"You know," I said once our laughter had died down. "You remind me of some one I know." I smiled wistfully.

"Oh?" He said, interested. I nodded. "So…you're from Sasuke's village, right?" He asked. I nodded sadly. I was starting to feel homesick. "How did you meet Sasuke? And what was he like?"

His questions were bringing back memories I had spent years trying to repress. My voice was strained when I answered Suigetsu's questions. "Well…I was just like any other girl in Konoha, a fangirl of Sasuke's. And he's probably the same now that he was back then. A cold, hard, perfect at everything, impassive jerk."

Suigetsu laughed at my response. "Geez. You really hate him now. What'd he do to you to make you so angry with him?"

"He left me." The response jumped to my mouth. I was surprised. That wasn't the only reason. He destroyed my clan, he tried to kill Naruto twice, Sasuke betrayed everyone he knew and abandoned all he had just for revenge. I hated him for that, right? "And other things as well." I quickly added.

"Hmmm." Suigetsu said. "Who do I remind you of?"

"Oh! You remind me of my best friend, Naruto. He's kinda the village mischief-maker. Naruto was the third member of Sasuke and my team. Team 7. Along with the old pervert, Kakashi-sensei."

Suigetsu laughed. We came to the hall where my room was. Stopping at a pair of doors, curiosity got the best of me. My door was on the left, so whose was on the right? "Whose room is that?" I asked, pointing to the other door.

"Sasuke's."

"WHAT?" I shrieked. HE had a room next to mine?!

"He says he has to watch over you so that you don't run away."

"Probably true." I admitted. But why did it have to be Him. Any of the others could have watched me. I sighed.

"Oh. Well." Said Suigetsu, making a face. I laughed. "Well, it's getting late. I should go. You should probably go back to your room before Sasuke finds out that I gave you a tour. He thinks that if you know how to get out, there could be trouble."

"Again, probably true. I just want to go home." I sighed. Waving good-bye to Suigetsu, I entered the room. Greeted by the sad reminder of home, I stuffed my backpack in the closet and sat down on the bed. I closed my eyes and imagined what everyone back in Konoha was doing.

About an hour later the door that connected my room to Sasuke's opened. "What do you want?" I asked, eyes still closed.

"I came to see what your answer to my offer is."

I opened my eyes. "I already told you. I won't give you an answer until I know what the mission is."

"Well then, good night. Oh, and by the way, the doors are locked from the outside." And with that he closed the door to his room and walked out the main door, closing it behind him.

I waited about half an hour then retrieved my backpack from the closet. Taking out a set of lock picks I set to work on the door. Humph, I thought. Sasuke has grown careless. He seriously underestimates the abilities of a leaf ninja.

It took me only minutes to pop the lock. That kind of worried me. There was no traps, no alarms, nothing. I replaced the picks into my bag and slipped it onto my back. I was free.

* * *

**Well, that's it. For the record, I don't know how to spell Juugo's name so forgive me if it's not spelled right. I might go on a small hiatus with this story so please be patient with me. **

**Reviews might inspire me. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. XD  
**


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